Joseph 'Joe' Valachi (September 22, 1904 - April 3, 1971) was the first person to acknowledge the existence of the Mafia. He is also the person who made La Cosa Nostra a household name. In October of 1963, he testified before John L. McClellan's congressional committee that the Mafia did exist. The effect of this was devastating for the mob. After his testimony, the mob was no longer invisible to the public eye.
His memoirs were published by Peter Maas as The Valachi Papers, and formed the basis for a later movie of the same name.
Valachi died of natural causes in at La Tuna Federal Correctional Institution in Texas, the $100,000 bounty having been placed on his head by the Mafia going uncollected.
Joseph 'Joe Cargo' Valachi (September 22, 1903 â" April 3, 1971) was the first Mafia member to publicly acknowledge the existence of the Mafia.
In October 1963, Valachi (a "soldier" in New York City's powerful Vito Genovese crime family, whose primary "job" within the family was that of a driver) had testified before Arkansas Senator John L. McClellan's congressional committee on organized crime that the Mafia did exist.
Although the low-ranking Valachi's disclosures never led directly to the prosecution of any Mafia leaders, he was able to provide many details of its history, operations and rituals, aiding in the solution of several uncleared murders, as well as naming many members and the major crime families.
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